Guest Anonymous Posted June 18, 2001 Share Posted June 18, 2001 How effective is the stock 240z AC? Is the 280z system worth the pain of converting a 71 240z? I live in San Diego and drive the freeway every day to work. Got lucky at the local pick it yourself junkyard and found a 240z with an intact factory AC!!! I have read and felt the pain of those that have tried to stuff a 260 - 280z AC into a 240. The changes to the Dashboard to accoumdate the AC heatexchanger and associated ducts, controls, hoses etc are to say the least a major project. I have collected most of the under dash AC components for a 280z AC system. The time involved in making the conversion is what has delayed the project to date. I plan to use the GM components up front in the engine compartment. I your experience to help make the decision. Uncle ED Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Shasteen Posted June 18, 2001 Share Posted June 18, 2001 I can only speak from past (I mean Past-Past) experience...back in College I had a 1973 240Z w/ac. It was okay...as long as the sun didnt come out. Might have been better if I had known about the blower motor swapping some guys are currently making now. I currently drive a 78 280Z & the A/C in that car by far deliver's better quality A/C than I remember my 240Z delivering. I'm using the stock blower motor & to me it still is rather bleak on the output of the BTU's (whatever that figure is for a car). If you're gonna "Re-do" your a/c system...should definately upgrade w/a retrofit from another blower motor-then your output should be nice/confortable. Kevin, (Yea,Still an Inliner) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLKMGK Posted June 19, 2001 Share Posted June 19, 2001 Don't forget the aftermarket A/C systems too. Vintage Air has one that looks like it owuld be righ tat home... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted June 19, 2001 Share Posted June 19, 2001 If I've read things correctly in the past, 240Z's never had factory a/c, 240's can only have dealer-installed or some other type of aftermarket a/c system. I obtained one of the dealer-installed systems from a bone yard to put on my '70 240z. It's pretty much worthless unless you are in the shade. I think there is enough cooling capacity, but since the blower has to draw though the evap. it just doesn't flow enough air. Now, my '75 with factory air is another story, quite a nice system, even with a York compressor on my 302 Ford. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 Thanks for your inputs. I took a critical look at that dealer installed unit and was skeptical from the start as to its effectiveness. Too much hastle for too little gain. I am bagging the whole project. ANYBODY interested in a complete 240 and 280 AC system? CHEEP Uncle ED Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin Shasteen Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 UncleEd, I dont want to talk you into nor out of anything-but let me clearify something. My 78z's A/C is ice cold-at the vent, & cools the car down sufficiently; my main beef mostly is that the Blower Motor is incredibly WEAK! Combined w/the weak motor & the stock vinyl seats; the front of me is always cool while the back of me always sweats! If I had a stronger blower motor & cloth seats/or seats that allowed my back side to breathe better-then things might be different. Before doing anything, I'ld deffinately give the a/c shop in San Antonio Tx (forgot their name-someone mentioned them earlier) a call-ask about their retro fit for the Z; as mentioned earlier-they're suppose to have a unit that fits the Z. Ask if their system is a total package or if it's suppose to [compliment] the already existing package. I'ld do this before making any decisions. Kevin, (Yea,Still an Inliner) [ June 19, 2001: Message edited by: Kevin Shasteen ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
randy 77zt Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 my 77 has working factory ac .the blower motor went out last summer and i replaced ot with one from my parts car but it doesnt blow as hard.ac temp is 38 to 40.i heard that a 280 zx motor bolts in and blows harder.i am going to get 1 at pick&pull and try it.summer days are usually 92 to 105 around here.tommorrow is supposed to hit 103. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 Here is a post that is probably still in the archives, not sure of the author (thanks, whomever wrote it!), but I saved it into a word doc. This might help the blower problem. I intend to do it once I get the msa a/c piped up, compressor is mounted, need to mount condensor and hoses. Anyway, without further ramblings from me: BLOWER SWAP " Someone posted a couple weeks ago about a '88 CRX blower motor upgrade. Well, I was at a junkyard and pulled the blower motor out of a 88 Civic, which I presumed to be the same. Anyways, it is definitely a drop in replacement for my weak 240Z blower. Even the Honda squirrel cage fits right in, with no modifications. I did an unscientific comparison of a 240Z, 280Z, and Civic blower using their stock squirrel cages. Here are the results: 240Z blower - so so 280Z blower - better Civic blower - best! I didn't try swapping the squirrel cages around, but I would like to try the 280Z cage with the Civic blower. The 280Z cage is slightly bigger, but the Civic cage has more fins. The Civic blower is seems to be only slightly better than the 280Z blower, but the difference is noticable, and I believe every little bit will help. Now I am wondering, if Honda used even better blowers in their larger cars? We will see at the junkyard. I am sure too that other years of Honda blowers besides 88 will also fit the Z. Hope this is useful to someone. " Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 My experience: 240Z blower: rating 3 (out of 10) 280ZX blower: rating 4 (out of 10) 1986 Full size Ford LTD blower: 10 (out of 10) That Ford blower took a good bit of cobbling of the 240Z fan box, but it puts out easily 3 times the air of the 240Z unit. Hopefully, I'll get the car on the road and the A/C charged in time this Summer to test it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 Pete, How did you have to cobble it? Did it require like resectioning of the box, or opening it up where the fan and squirrel cage went in or what? I'm going to be doing a scrapyard run this weekend I think and see if I can find something appropriate that'll work better. Oh by the way, here is a picture of the MSA a/c unit that hooks to the inlet duct of the stock fan box in case anyone wanted to see it. (This unit is actually manufactured by Superior Manf. for MSA) I think it'll work fine provided I can get more air drawn in through the evaporator (I suspect thats one of the reasons they worked poorly originally, granted its slightly less effecient than blow through systems, but the fan motor was/is pathetic in the 240z's.) Regards, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted June 20, 2001 Share Posted June 20, 2001 Sounds like a winner Pete, yeah this is r134a as well and yup, they don't give em away thats for sure. I'll keep an eye on that seal when it goes in, thats a good tip, the old unit (I have the original aftermarkeet evaporator) was smaller, and drew air in from the bottom, it did'nt appear to have a seal to the inlet (unless it was just rotted away which is very possible). Hey this is one case where Duct tape might actually be used in the intended application (if one can get it up in there to assure a air tight seal). More info if I come up with another possible blower candidate, but I'll look at the Fords too. Thanks. Cheers, Lone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted June 21, 2001 Share Posted June 21, 2001 Don, as usual, we're on the same wavelengths I had to open the hole that the cage goes into, space the motor mounting plate on the ford blower back about a half inch (and sealed this area) and made a new "inlet duct" in the box. The inlet duct is just that short lip that is in the hole in the box that seals the inside of the cage to the other side of the box, where the inlet air enters the cage. A strip (about 1" wide of sheet was bent into a piece resembling angle iron, with a 1/4 and 3/4" leg. Lots of snip cuts along the 3/4" side, to be able to bend the 1/4" side into a circle. This created a short 1/4" long "duct that I tack welded into place. One reason for this is that I moved the center of the fan a bit to get it to work a bit better (to keep it from recirculating the air). I also had to rewire the fan with larger wire to it, added relays (you probably figured that!), and made a new speed selecting resistor (that coil of wire in the outlet of the fan box) out of some 19 gage nicrome wire. Trial and error there to get the speeds I wanted. BTW, I have that same MSA unit, only I bought the R134A version from them. Damned expensive it was. And I totally agree that the reason these systems didn't work was that the seal between the evap box output (where that foam makes a gasket in your pic) and the fan box opening is hard to get right, AND the fan was too wimpy to be able to pull enough air through it. I'll know later this Summer, I hope, whether my (our) theory is right. [ June 20, 2001: Message edited by: pparaska ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted June 21, 2001 Share Posted June 21, 2001 quote: Originally posted by pparaska: Ron, as usual, we're on the same wavelengths Pete,Ron,All Thanks for sticking with me on this issue. I just couldn't see daylight when everything for a good final product pointed to a complete dashboard redo/replacement. The fan upgrade and the picture showed the way to retain my 240 dash. It looks as if the unit I picked up was the same as pictured. I have all the other parts needed. Uncle Ed I had to open the hole that the cage goes into, space the motor mounting plate on the ford blower back about a half inch (and sealed this area) and made a new "inlet duct" in the box. The inlet duct is just that short lip that is in the hole in the box that seals the inside of the cage to the other side of the box, where the inlet air enters the cage. A strip (about 1" wide of sheet was bent into a piece resembling angle iron, with a 1/4 and 3/4" leg. Lots of snip cuts along the 3/4" side, to be able to bend the 1/4" side into a circle. This created a short 1/4" long "duct that I tack welded into place. One reason for this is that I moved the center of the fan a bit to get it to work a bit better (to keep it from recirculating the air). I also had to rewire the fan with larger wire to it, added relays (you probably figured that!), and made a new speed selecting resistor (that coil of wire in the outlet of the fan box) out of some 19 gage nicrome wire. Trial and error there to get the speeds I wanted. BTW, I have that same MSA unit, only I bought the R134A version from them. Damned expensive it was. And I totally agree that the reason these systems didn't work was that the seal between the evap box output (where that foam makes a gasket in your pic) and the fan box opening is hard to get right, AND the fan was too wimpy to be able to pull enough air through it. I'll know later this Summer, I hope, whether my (our) theory is right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.